


Brave Enough

by Booboodaddyh



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Angst, Boys Kissing, Coming Out, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, Running Away, Sunset Curve (Julie and The Phantoms), give these boys some happiness duh, mostly Luke's point of view, they're happy in their little bubble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:02:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28301310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Booboodaddyh/pseuds/Booboodaddyh
Summary: Luke and Alex both have a complicated relationship with their parents and find comfort in each other's arms.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms)
Kudos: 43





	Brave Enough

So we both were depressed, broken, and that’s how we got together. Alex made me the happiest I’d been in months, we experienced a lot together, both good and bad stuff, and he was always by my side.

The day Luke ran away from home was Christmas. Everyone was sitting at the dining table, eating in the silence, but it didn't feel as awkward as it did usually, especially recently. Family dinners became slowly more and more awkward since he told his parents he was in a band. Alex and Luke had been friends since diapers and it was no news they liked playing together, and ever since they met Reggie, they always organized 'music evenings' where they played covers of their favorite bands, but ever since they became the Sunset Curve and Bobby jumped in, Emily and Mitch became gradually colder.

"So, mom, the mashed potatoes are amazing" Luke started, trying to do small talks and be a good son. A pretty hard task if you're Luke, who didn't seem to chill ever; he was always on something, and he expressed his excitement _way too loud_ to be left unnoticed.

"Thank you, Luke" she answered politely, and Luke tried to read if she was in a bad or good mood, as he wanted to ask her something. Something she wasn't going to like by any chance. "So, I was thinking, maybe the guys and I can bring here our instruments and play at New Year's eve-" he looked at his mom, hopefully, but she didn't flinch, looking at the way she was cutting her meat a little too carefully to look chill.

Luke waited long for an answer, or at least it felt so long, but he didn't expect what his mom was going to say, not in a million years. "You're not seeing 'the guys' ever again." Her voice was calm as if it wasn't a big deal, and she didn't even look in Luke's eyes. And he waited, he waited patiently for her to start laughing, telling him it was just a joke and then suggesting what songs they could play. But she never started laughing.

That's when Luke lost it. "Wow mom, you don't even have the courage to look at me as you shatter my biggest dream and passion" he started, not wanting to light a fire quite yet. But he had a lot of things to say, things he'd bottled up for months now. 

"Your dreams? That's a little bold of you to say, Lukey, two months ago you said your biggest passion was cooking, and three months ago your biggest dream was to become a hockey player. The fact is that you don't know what you want to do actually, and that is ruining your grades, which are a little more important than playing with your friends after school. What happened to the biology extra class you wanted to join?" Only after that long, hurtful sentence, Emily lifted her head to look at her son.

"Do you ever listen to me when I talk or you just pick up what seems the best to make me look like the genius I am not? I mentioned _once_ that I liked cooking, I went to _three_ hockey training sessions before I dropped, but you know what didn't change? In like, 6 years? My passion for music. I started with piano, then violin, marching band, and then I finally got my guitar, and she's practically my best friend-" "I regret buying you that guitar every single day." Now Mitch spoke, and Luke had to fight hard not to start crying.

Look stood up, and grabbed his backpack. "What are you doing?" asked Emily, not much louder than a whisper, but Luke had had enough. "I don't know mum, going somewhere people around me don't think I'm useless? Somewhere people around me don't say I'm failing school when I got _one_ bad mark on a calc test? Anywhere but here" he raised his voice, then went upstairs to his room, and started grabbing some clothes, along with his songbook and his guitar pics.

"What do you think you're doing Luke? You don't have our permission to go anywhere" Luke ran downstairs, half of his stuff still in hand. "Apparently I don't have your permission to be happy, so why should I care?" "Don you dare disrespect me, Luke Patterson!" 

He grabbed his beanie and put it on, giving one last look at his parents. "I tried. I tried to be the person you wanted me to be, but that's not what I want." with that sentence, he opened the front door and jumped on his bike. 

"Luke!" Emily yelled, hoping he'd stop. But he didn't.

* * *

Eight minutes and many tears later, Luke knocked on Alex's window, and the poor boy almost fell off his bed, dropping his book to the floor. He stood up and opened the window, and Luke immediately jumped in his room, drenching from the rain that had started pouring a couple of minutes earlier, as if the universe wanted to make him feel even worse. "Alex, do you think I'm a disappointment?"

Alex looked rather puzzled but still answered, not sure. "No I don't, are you high Luke? I told Bobby not to-" "I fought with my parents and they said they regret buying me the guitar, do you think I can stay here for a while?" Alex's gaze immediately went tender, opening his arms for his best friend to crawl into them, which he immediately did. "Of course you can Lukey, you don't even have to ask."

And so Luke stayed at Alex's for a while. His parents were used to have Luke over and in the end, Alex's family was as messed up as Luke's. His parents, Judy and Richard, were extremely catholic and fond of traditions, and they seemed to care more about those than about their own child. They even forced them to go to church, and as much as Luke loved to mock Alex when he was wearing a suit, he didn't like particularly religion and church and stuff like that.

And as they cared so much about traditions, they of course forced Alex to stay home for New Year's eve. Alex, Luke, and Reggie were planning to steal somewhere a bottle of tequila, get their guitars and spend the night out playing in the little special spot they'd found behind Malibu, where they always went to do homework and just chill as friends. But instead look found himself sat at Alex's dining table, in a beige suit and his hair pulled back without a single strand out of place. Very unusual.

Luke knew that night was an important one for Alex, so he mostly stayed quiet, he didn't even complain about the suit, he instead tried to help him calm down, in sight of the big news he had to tell his parents about. Big news for them, at least.

Halfway into dinner, Alex cleared his voice, "Mom, dad?" he called them, and Luke gently stroked his thigh, as to tell him he had his full support. "Yes, Alexander?" spoke his dad, giving him that stern look Luke had learned to hate recently. "I have a thing to say."

Suddenly, the sound of cutlery clanging to the ceramic plates stopped, and the whole room went quiet. "Do tell then, what's up?" Alex felt his head way too light, and he knew that meant a panic attack was coming, but he knew also that if he didn't tell his parents that night, he wasn't gonna tell them ever.

"I have, I have been trying for a while to find the right words to tell you about this, but I don't really know, I don't think there are correct or wrong words. Mom, Dad, I am... gay"

Silence wrapped the room worst than ever. It seemed like the whole universe stopped spinning, Alex could feel his head spinning, but Luke kept holding his hand, to help him ground himself. And then three syllables. "No, you're not" his father replied, looking fairly serious.

"Yes, I am? What does that even-" "Alex, you're not gay. You're not some kind of disgusting gay who, I don't know, does that stuff with other boys. I thought we'd taught you better Alexander." Richard's word s were filled with hate, and Alex knew he was gonna start crying soon. So he just stood up and shook his head, looking at his mother. She didn't say a word. Alex ran away from the table.

"Are you serious? It's a delicate topic and you... ah nevermind, Alex!" Luke called him, running after him. He was running on the street, breathing heavily, and after a second he finally reached him, grabbing his shoulder. "Alex, Alex stop, we're far enough, calm down." he grabbed his shoulders, looking in his eyes. "Breathe with me."

And so he did. Ten minutes later, Luke had wrapped his jacket around his shoulders, letting Alex cry as he hugged him. "They don't deserve your tears, okay? You can't change who you are, and who you love doesn't change the way I see you, and Reggie, and Bobby. We love you, we will always be your second family"

As soon as Luke finished speaking, a loud noise filled the streets. Apparently, midnight had come, and with it, also 1995. Luke glanced at Alex one last time, then, without thinking twice, he grabbed his face and kissed him. And oh you can bet Alex kissed him back, tears still running down his cheeks, but some of those were because with Luke he felt safe. And that kiss sparked a light between them.

"Happy new year?" Luke tried as they parted, and he gladly enjoyed the laugh that spilled from Alex's sweet and tasty mouth, blush creeping from his neck up to the cheeks that now had Luke's fingerprints on. "yea sure, happy new year Lucas" he said, and Luke couldn't help but laugh himself, shaking his head.

"That was nice, by the way" murmured Luke after a while, knowing Alex would overthink about it for the rest of the evening if he didn't mention it again. "I mean, we could do it ag-" "yes, yes please" Alex smiled, still blushing, and he had no idea where all the courage came from, but Luke wasn't complaining.

And so they kissed, on the snow, sitting on the sidewalk of Sunset Boulevard, smiles on their faces and hand in hand. And for a moment, all their problems didn't exist. It was Luke, Alex, a thousand other people they didn't know, and the warmth they shared.

They felt happy.


End file.
